


Ilinx

by perryvic, Zaganthi (Caffiends)



Series: Emotional Intelligence [6]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Characters returning to life without explanation, Fix-It of Sorts, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, Gundams, M/M, Newtypes (Gundam Wing), Post-Eve Wars (Gundam Wing), Quatre Raberba's Uchuu no Kokoro | Space Heart, Space Battles, Suicidal Thoughts, Those plot holes were there when we started, ZERO System (Gundam Wing)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:15:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29906493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perryvic/pseuds/perryvic, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caffiends/pseuds/Zaganthi
Summary: "The Alliance put down 'insurrections' throughout the colonies and Earth on a weekly basis. These insurrections were common citizens looking for an outlet for their needs. They had no interface with their government, and the military acted as a hand to reinforce the interests of the rich. From now on, we must act on behalf of the citizens. We must restructure to better support society."There was definitely something, and Quatre could feel it going out through him, to the room at least amplified by their connection. He couldn't afford to listen to the speech itself, he had to refocus and listen to everyone. He mentally swept over the areas around there, feeling the individual stories of each person's emotional life clamouring for his attention but he slid past. Dekim Barton, his mind stood out as a pit of darkness and smug satisfaction.He was so deeply pleased, and Quatre couldn't dwell, looking for the killer in the crowd. He heard Treize going on about the end of child soldiers, about raising the age of enlistment to 18, about proposals for what to do with those already in. To be further discussed in the meetings, and that this was to help rebuild society.That was when Quatre felt it.
Relationships: Treize Khushrenada/Quatre Raberba Winner
Series: Emotional Intelligence [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2186436
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ilinx, a French word for “the ‘strange excitement’ of wanton destruction; also a chaotic game theory move.

He felt better in the morning, less raw and worn, less like he was trying to get a grapple on why no one believed him when he kept trying to climb down from the fucking pedestal they kept putting him on. He hadn’t drunk nearly enough with Noin to have a hangover, though he suspected she would definitely be feeling the worse for wear.

Sometime in the night, Quatre had crawled into his bed. He hadn't sought Quatre out after the meeting had ended, and he'd done his work of socializing with everyone who seemed viable and then had his drink with Noin. He had honestly expected the pilot to disappear off with the other pilots, to reengage with them, to fuck pilot 03, because that was probably on both of their to do lists, and that was fine. Treize knew it was an awkward situational thing between them; he recognized that.

Just hadn't expected to wake up with arms wrapped around him, with Quatre's head on his shoulder. He took a moment, letting himself feel the weight of another's body against his, the warmth and the muscles, Quatre's breathing.

Quatre's drowsing form was letting warm, protective feelings lap over him, safe feelings. It was a strange thing to experience that someone should be feeling that way with him around.

The pilot was actively clinging, and that was also unusual. He shouldn't have been concerned about the assassination attempt; Treize wasn't. Still, the safe feelings were appreciated, after he'd spent an evening trying to talk people out of feeling threatened by him. He eased his hand along Quatre's spine, trying to relax himself. His alarm clock hadn't even gone off yet.

The other man made a sleepy noise and stirred a little. He had been quite a light sleeper usually, but he had obviously been tired when he got in. Treize didn't want to move and disturb him but it seemed that touch to the spine had managed to tip him toward wakefulness. It was going to be a long day, and there was a certain lazy enjoyment in laying there. He closed his eyes, and breathed, trying to let his mind go blank. He'd rehearsed his speech the night before, modified it, and he would be flexible if anything else interesting happened.

Interesting.

He became aware of soft lips pressing against his skin sleepily as he contemplated what might happen. It was an absent, fond affectionate gesture as Quatre opened sleepy eyes to focus on him. He could feel it as much as see it, that flow of brightness that seemed to happen just by virtue of him being awake.

It was strange. Not unwelcome, but never not noteworthy. He shifted his fingers, stroking at the hair at the back of Quatre's head. "Good morning."

"Mm, morning," Quatre yawned, not letting go of him. "I hope you don't mind me coming in. I know we were going to behave but..." He had a brief dose of emotion that translated in his head to Quatre coming back and growing anxiety about whether Treize was okay, and a need to make sure, and be close just in case.

Behave, like they were teenagers. It was amusing, but it was more likely that they would accidentally spiral off in the charged atmosphere and it wasn't the place to be safe enough for whatever happened. "Yes, they haven't killed me yet. I don't mind. I." He stretched his fingers, rubbing idly at Quatre's scalp. "Hmn. You should have been with one of your friends."

"We were delivering the plans," Quatre said. "And then they had to go." He sounded a little wistful. "It was interesting to see them with the new level of empathy in play. I managed not to get sucked in."

"They had to go?" That made... no sense, they were each embedded in their respective delegations. "Huh. You got close to being sucked in with Duo. I was stupidly excited when I did that. I remember... I used to be able to do something like it."

"I thought that was you!" Quatre poked at him. "But did it give you a nosebleed? I was worried it did. You didn't hurt yourself doing that."

The poking at his side made him grin, turning into Quatre a little more. "Yes, it gave me a nosebleed. It was still delightful to realize that it..." He hesitated as he found the words. "It didn't entirely go away."

"You think that is your newtype ability you thought was broken?" Quatre quizzed with a very gentle tone. "You could control others' emotions?"

"That sounds rather dangerous, doesn't it?" He mused, sliding fingers through Quatre's hair. "It's been a while. Can't quite remember it all. More like grabbing someone by the collar. Kept me alive a time or two."

"Mm, it felt a little like that. Duo's depth of emotion about me surprised me at the time," Quatre said. "I was better prepared for it later." His hand had started idling absently over his skin. "Trowa -- I knew we have a connection, he'd felt it too. Duo, I thought he wanted fun and just needed someone but..." He shrugged a little. "How did you get on at the banquet?"

"Tried to convince multiple people I'm not running in the elections. Perhaps put Relena at ease; perhaps I failed." Dorothy had subtly acknowledged his ongoing state of... whatever. Distress, maybe. His stepfather had been a complete blunder of a stranger. There had been so much business to work, pieces from their discussions to lay the groundwork for, before, surprise.

"Heero was a little off with me too," Quatre agreed. "Very on edge as far as I could tell. At least you will have laid the groundwork for your speech today."

"Yes." He couldn't shake the feeling that being assassinated would be an acceptable solution. Except that he was alive, and he... was tired. He was tired, and there was so much work to be done, still. "Any idea why he was on edge?"

"I'm not sure. We strategized a response to a possible mobile doll force threat and he flat out refused to leave Sanc," Quatre yawned a little. "You are very comfortable."

"I'm glad to be comfortable while you catch me up on what I'm missing, such as the mobile doll threat?" He asked it calmly, tone casual.

"After the main security briefing, us five were left behind and Lady Anne came in," Quatre said. "I was going to report to you last night but it took us a long time to deliver the plans and then to do the security checks Duo and Trowa wanted. Anyway, she told us there was intelligence of mobile doll movements associated with L3. We then wrangled a plan."

He sincerely doubted there was much of "we" about it.

"You use the royal 'we' quite well." He shifted his hand down, spreading fingers across the back of Quatre's shoulder. "Where have the other pilots gone and what're we facing?"

"My opinion; if Dekim feels he doesn't have a shot at the Presidency, he will resort to strong arm tactics. A full strike, something borne out by intelligence data." Quatre shifted up a little. "It was pointed out Vulkanus was still unaccounted for, and I discussed with them the possibility it was in his hands. His strategy would be likely, if he had sufficient mobile doll or pilots, to simultaneously hit all colonies and Earth now they have effectively disarmed. There was a discussion about our strategy and the result is Lady Anne protecting L1, Duo, L2, Noin, L4 with Trowa and Wufei leading a counter offensive against L3. Heero, myself and you will have to respond to any attack on Earth. So obviously, we can't wait until they are spotted to get them in position so.."

Quatre had very intensely blue eyes when he looked at someone. "I don't believe in Mobile Dolls. I wouldn't worry about Vulkanus." He inhaled slowly, and sighed, stretching his shoulders. "Well, I'd worry less about Vulkanus."

"You will need to ensure Epyon is transported close," he replied. "And I need to get Heero to tell me where he has stashed Sandrock," Quatre said. "He has told the others where theirs are."

"Epyon is outside the city gates, hidden and under guard. We can have it towed in, but I'm afraid I can't risk having a soldier pilot it for transport." And he couldn't risk piloting it himself unless it was necessary. "Sandrock will be in the bays out by the harbor, by the airport."

Quatre relaxed. "Of course. That would be the best place. Anyway, that's what we came up with."

"What you came up with." Treize closed his eye, and rubbed idly at the ruined side of his face for a moment. He didn't want to get up, and Quatre was a lovely, comfortable feeling against him.

"Well, we discussed it," he said. "How's the headache today?"

"Mild. Of course, I haven't sat up yet, either." He let his hand idle down to the small of Quatre's back, the upper curve of his ass. "I sometimes feel badly about this."

"About what?" Quatre asked, sounding genuinely interested. "Us sleeping in bed? The whole election negotiations?"

He felt the edge of his mouth twitch. Of the two he felt worse about the negotiations if he was honest. "You're a prisoner of war. Never mind that you're galivanting around with Gundams as you all please."

Quatre lay there for a moment. "I am a prisoner of war, yes, but why should I fight a leash that is practically non-existent when we are heading in the same direction. I'm an idealist who is also pragmatic."

"I wonder how much of this is pragmatism, too." He shifted Quatre to lay slightly more atop him, moving until they were pelvis to pelvis, hips aligned. "But I won't complain while it lasts."

Quatre slapped him lightly on the torso. "You don't need to wonder." It was like something blooming between them. "I do care for you, you know that." He moved deliberately, slowly to rock against him.

Lined up cock to cock was exquisite, and he clenched his hands on Quatre's arse to keep the motion going. "Yes, but I don't know what to do with it."

Quatre gave a low laugh, closing his eyes. "You don't have to... do anything with it. Just accept it for what it is."

"That's insanity." He declared it, chuckling and leaning down a little to kiss him. It felt good to just, screw around in bed, to feel light, to just enjoy himself for a moment for no reason at all, to feel a little heat, arousal and warmth.

Why was he thinking of the desert?

"We spend too much time trying to be sane," Quatre murmured moving seamlessly with him. The golden warmth and light feeling grew more intense as they moved cock against cock.

He liked the friction, and reached down to palm Quatre's dick and his together, focused on the physical sensation that he had something to do with, that he could contribute to. Making sure Quatre came, as well as glowed.

He'd become used to the feeling of the empath building towards orgasm. It was comfort and pleasure in a pulsing embracing warmth found his way into everything, seeping into the cracks and hurts he had. He knew now Quatre didn't try to do it, it just...happened when he was happy and content.

He didn't fight it, just tried to bring his own something into it, tried to focus on Quatre. Treize rocked up, a heel dug in against the mattress, stroking them both off as firmly as he could. He just wanted, just a little more...

And Quatre gave that little more in the movement and his own release. Even now it was like a burst of ecstasy that rippled through them both,, like having his own multiple orgasm as he came. He ended up half curled around Quatre in the aftermath, while still under him. Everything felt a little too hot, and perfectly relaxed, and his mind was a blessedly blank thing.

Treize almost didn't notice his alarm clock going off.

Quatre groaned. "I guess that means we've got to go to work," he mumbled into his skin. "Trying to work out if I should be near to you when you are doing the speech or roaming looking for anyone with killing intent.

He stretched beneath Quatre, rather enjoying the rub of skin and muscle, hands loose against Quatre's hips. "Be near."

"Okay," he murmured. "I wish they would change things more or put off the speeches."

Treize rubbed a leg against Quatre's outer thigh, and made himself sit up. "It will all work out."

"It better," Quatre said forcefully. "I don't want to lose anyone else."

"Best to not ruminate. Let's focus on getting through this morning, and then if we're lucky, this afternoon's sessions. Your main job once we move to planning meetings is still to keep anyone from trying to get me to read anything." He threw that in as a joke, as he leaned into Quatre and kissed him softly. "Protect me from the words that make no damn sense."

"I can do that," Quatre agreed as he kissed him back. "I can promise you that."

Which in some ways was more inexplicable to him than people trying to stop him from being assassinated.

He wasted another few minutes there in bed with Quatre, bracing himself for a long day in simple body on body comfort, the closeness of someone who, perhaps, gave a damn.

* * *

Everything was moving on schedule. Breakfast had arrived at the suite, rather than group breakfast because of the threat, while Treize checked his messages and mail, showing Quatre the initial good reactions to the printed plans that had been distributed. There was a funny melancholy edge wrapped into it all, because Treize kept thinking of his brother, his father, while still talking about planning forward, about meetings later in the week.

Treize had taken his time with his dress uniform that morning, and then had made Quatre stand up to a general inspection of his own uniform. Quatre left the suite with him like an aide and a bodyguard.

He needed to speak to Heero though. He'd not managed to talk to him or any of them about the fact his "weird space-heart thing" as Duo called it, had been developing and now he was pretty sure in a chamber of people where an assassin would have to be inside to assassinate someone, he would pick up an intent to kill. He wanted him to know that, to react to that if he indicated and also to work out how they would protect them. He understood that Relena was Heero's priority, but if Heero was stalking the ramparts, he would have to cover them both.

And it would be a loss to Sanc's standing if Relena was kept alive and OZ took a large public loss, even if Treize wasn't thinking of it that way.

But speaking to Heero meant he needed to find him first, and he wasn't in the immediate entourage where Relena and Dorothy were standing as Treize walked up to greet them. He needed to peel away, so he could coordinate.

If it were going to happen it wouldn't happen until the cameras were on broadcasting everything to the world and to space, so he was relatively confident that Treize was safe for the moment. "Excuse me, sir," he said politely as company was near enough to hear. "I need to go...finalise some details with the head of security. I'll be back before the speeches start."

"Of course." There was a light touch on his shoulder, and then Treize turned his attention back to his notes, half listening to Dorothy and Relena.

The hall was crowded, full of delegates catching up, spotting people they knew or thought they knew, greeting each other and gossiping, arranging seating, while Quatre waded through.

He was trying to open that sense up more widely but it was proving hard with the proximity so to start with he had to use his knowledge of Heero's likely movements. He would be sweeping all the vantage points himself, not trusting the teams assigned to not have missed something. He turned his attention there and finally got a faint familiar pull in a certain direction and followed it out and up the stairs to the upper levels which were cordoned off. He had to flash an ID to the security guards but they recognized him as well as verified him so that was something. It took him a few minutes but he came across Heero leaning on the balcony edge scowling to himself.

"Heero, I need to talk to you quickly before the broadcast begins..." he started.

"Yes?" Heero was always a man of few words, but he shifted slightly, still scanning the room down below. "Everyone has gone through metal detectors."

"I know, but there are ways around that, or they don't try and enter until the ceremonies begin," Quatre said. "Heero, my... abilities have altered slightly."

They made Heero uncomfortable, he knew that after how he had broken him out of thrall to Zero. He'd never really talked about what had happened when Heero had self-destructed because he knew that would compromise him in 01's head, but there was nothing for it. It was their best bet of stopping the attempt.

Heero pivoted his actual attention to Quatre, straightening up. He was dressed in a good suit, more tailored than anything Heero would have picked for a mission; he half imagined that Relena dressed him, or maybe turned her staff loose on Heero. "Altered how?"

"Stronger." He said succinctly. "Enough that I would be able to pick up killing intent in a room the size of the chamber." That he was sure about - other things, that had all happened without conscious thought.

"Huh." He was looking at Quatre, studying him for a long moment, half suspicious, half interested. "Relena wants the assassin tackled, not shot. Which would have been easier. We have the whole floor space and bullets move faster than people."

"We will still be looking regularly, but I wanted you to know that if I 'see' something and it is not immediately visually verifiable, that is what I am using," Quatre explained. "I've not used it in this specific way before, but the experiences I've had recently have varied from feelings to actual images or words."

"So if we tackle whoever you point out..." Heero left the implication open. Like it could be that easy. "Where will you be?"

"Treize would like me near to him, so in the staff seats. I didn't know where you would be. If I have to, I will cover any of the delegates at the podium including Relena if you are not right next to her," he offered. "I'll have the radio mic on if you want a secure frequency to me"

"You should be in the middle of the room." Heero glanced down, and checked the frequency of his radio. "I'll cover the delegates."

"Use our normal frequency," Quatre said. He hesitated feeling anxiety rolling off of the other pilot behind his calm implacable exterior. "Heero, you know of the two of us, you have the reflexes and strength to bring down an assassin successfully quicker than any one of us. I might only get a very rapid warning, and I might have to act as passing on information.

"And then the target doesn't walk away." Heero's entire plan was to really jump in front of the bullet. That was... not surprising.

"I can promise you that I would protect Relena," Quatre said softly. "You know I would." He’d done that before, rushed to be there, to save her when Heero wasn't there. "But the target is most likely Treize."

He reached then, he needed to know whether Heero would definitely do for Treize what he would do for Relena.

It was there; the compulsion wasn't strong, but he would jump if he was being targeted. Which left it to Quatre to decide if it would be enough. "Yes. It wouldn't help negotiations." 

"I need to think tactically," he said aloud as a murmur. "We both do." If Heero was positioned on the dais, there was a chance he might not act swiftly enough to save Treize, but he most definitely would for Relena. If he was on the dais, he could potentially save both, but with Heero's priorities firmly centred on Relena, they would lose the assassin.

There was also the other possibility -- he might be able to warn Treize directly.

Treize had... something. Something Quatre had woken up or shaken loose. Noin had said he'd stopped fights, back in the day, and Quatre had felt the tight leashed feeling of being yanked up. And separate from that, they had proven that they could exchange thoughts, feelings, depending on how open Treize was feeling at the time.

"I am. I can move faster to tackle than you can." Heero exhaled, looking back down. "We need to move now, it's about to begin."

"Very well." He didn't want that, but he had to do what was the best. "I will work the room."

He hoped Treize would understand. He would still be close but, he was going to have to trust in him and his fellow Pilot.

Heero nodded his head, and led the way down the stairs. It was time to take seats, a little past time, so they were stalling to Anne's orders. The lights in the room lowered -- dammit -- and came up on the podium. There was Relena up first, offering warm welcome to the audience and those watching around the world. She felt a little more settled in than she had the night before, a little more polished. He could feel Treize's blank calmness just off stage, almost metallic in texture, determination. From his vantage point in the middle of the room, he could see the back of Heero's head.

He reached out empathically, specifically to Treize knowing that he would sense him, working on the link that was already between them, pouring energy into it until he was sure it was secure. He tried to send messages along it, as feelings if nothing else. A query of readiness, an image of what he was intending... using himself as a conduit so Treize could sense directly what was happening and act accordingly.

What he got back was fascination, a brief burst of confusion, and struggling to understand how it was supposed to work -- his head hurt, and he hadn't taken painkillers because he needed to be alert -- and then a firm kind of resolution, acceptance. He felt Treize straighten the edge of his gloves idly, and then on cue he stepped on stage.

It might work as a plan.

Either way, he opened his awareness up to encapsulate the room. He was going to regret this himself, but he could soothe Treize's headache with the direct connection and filtered out the onslaught of everyone's feelings so he would only pass on the significant spikes he was looking for.

So many feelings, and he sifted through them as Treize began speaking, his reception a mixture of fanatical support, or downright suspicion.

There was an odd set to Treize's jaw, and perhaps it wasn't a good thing to pass any of it on, but something had to be done, and it was the best solution he had.

"On December 25th, the combined forces of the Earth Sphere United Nations lost over 40,000 soldiers. In the months leading up to that battle, earth lost 95,000 soldiers. These numbers are well known, publicized. What we as a culture, trying to move forward together, haven't discussed are the losses the colonies suffered in those same battles, or the citizenry lost to starvation, disease, despair, and the failure of our combined economies to provide stability. On November 11th, the L5 colony detonated, rather than submit to occupation by the OZ Mobile Dolls, killing 3 million. The alliance military forces seeded L2 with plague no less than seven times in the last ten years, killing an estimated 300 million of L2's population of 1.2 billion."

He had revised his speech after talking with Mary Winchester the night before, it seemed, for the more dramatic. But he was effortless on stage, natural, the right amount of visceral emotional response coming out of him to match what he was saying, a deep belief in his own words.

"The Alliance put down 'insurrections' throughout the colonies and Earth on a weekly basis. These insurrections were common citizens looking for an outlet for their needs. They had no interface with their government, and the military acted as a hand to reinforce the interests of the rich. From now on, we must act on behalf of the citizens. We must restructure to better support society." 

There was definitely something there, and he could feel it going out through him, to the room at least amplified by their connection. He couldn't afford to listen to the speech itself, he had to refocus and listen to everyone. He mentally swept over the areas around there, feeling the individual stories of each person's emotional life clamouring for his attention but he slid past. Dekim Barton, his mind stood out as a pit of darkness and smug satisfaction. He should have made more of an effort to speak to him the night before. It just solidified his conviction that something was going to happen.

He was so deeply pleased, and Quatre couldn't dwell, looking for the killer in the crowd. He heard Treize going on about the end of child soldiers, about raising the age of enlistment to 18, about proposals for what to do with those already in. To be further discussed in the meetings, and that this was to help rebuild society.

That was when Quatre felt it.

No emotional spike, but the unmistakable smooth honed down sharpness of mission focus. Young, feeling like... like they had. Child soldiers, a child, a young... brainwashed child, coming towards the stage the image of Treize firmly implanted in her head. Her, the child was a her, and...

Quatre frantically sent that information to Treize struggling to get back towards the dais.

"Heero," he whispered urgently. "Brainwashed female child soldier approaching from east." He had to get closer, more detail came as he got closer and he was wide open to it.

Treize moved with the speed of a soldier, not a politician; he stopped talking, jumped down from the dais, and headed quickly at the girl, while Heero headed to get Relena down. It was quick, a rush of motion, and Quatre felt a spike of rage, someone to the south, behind him, because the plan was falling apart.

"You don't have to do this. Put the gun down." Treize kept advancing toward the girl, one hand held out and slightly to the side to grab at the gun.

There was a second assassin! He was an idiot to assume there would be only one. Heero was already on the move towards Treize and he pushed that knowledge at Treize, as well radioing.

"Heero, second shooter to the south " as he ran full pelt toward where that spike was. If they just held off a little, he would get there and he had to hope Treize had everything under control.

The man was clear in his intent, Treize, the girl definitely and targets of opportunity as they arose.

He heard a gunshot in the direction Treize was, but he didn't feel any pain, and by then the whole room was a panic of fleeing and screaming that made it hard to tell what was going on because everyone was a high emotional spike and then there was another gunshot.

He was there, on top of it, a burning line on his shoulder but he locked onto the shooter, the image of his face burning in his mind and jumped at him. He saw him pressing his finger on an automatic weapon and then a surge that ripped through his head and the man could not seem to fire for that critical moment as he barrelled into him and he could feel blood start to pour from his nose and a headache erupt.

The man out massed him, but he just needed to keep him from firing until the other guards got there. And then he felt a surge, support, and felt the man stop. Not just held still, but held not breathing, and Quatre felt the man pass out just as Heero tackled him.

Now the cavalry arrived, all the other support guards coming in to pull the man away from him, looking for the weapon, shouting orders to secure the delegates and the room.

He dragged himself to a sitting position, wanting nothing more but to sit there clutching his head. Treize had acted through him and his nose was bleeding impressively. Hopefully people would assume he took a knock in the tussle, when they were struggling for control of the gun.

Quatre needed to get to Treize to check he was okay and dragged himself up, taking a handkerchief from a concerned security guard.

Treize was kneeling, tightly holding a truly hysterical young girl, who was both sobbing and pushing at him at the same time. He had a matching nosebleed, and seemed to be struggling with what to do next; and the guards wouldn't come near him. "Shhh, shhh. It's okay. You're going to be okay." There was an overwhelming feeling of relief when he saw Quatre.

"You are unhurt?" Quatre checked as he approached. "Here, let me help you...if you were her target she is likely to have been conditioned. I'll take her, and you see if you can get Sally with a tranquilizer." He reached to wrap his arms around the girl, embracing her and letting calming soothing energy flow into her.

Hopefully it would just look like she would calm in another's grip. "Heero, we need support at the front, and someone to give our child assassin something to calm her."

Treize backed up, wiping the back of his hand under his nose, still studying the girl's face. "She..." One of the Sanc guards moved to intervene and Treize made a sharp movement in the man's direction as he stood up. "She's a child and I will not have her shackled and collected in a cell. This is a medical concern, get a doctor."

His tone of command had an immediate effect on the soldiers who scrambled to obey. "It's okay, it's going to be okay, I can stop this in your head," Quatre murmured and was unprepared for the desperate lunge and cling of the child's thoughts, and he was in...sucked in as he had been that first time with Treize, but he had been practising. He was not overwhelmed, he could bear the experience and untangle the immediate brainwashing even as the memories flowed through him.

He saw and she remembered a small house on the edge of a strip of colony farmland; her mother was petite, blond, pretty, and she took her to work with her in the hospital. There was a picture on the mantelpiece; there were so many, but the one she remembered was Treize. Younger, maybe 20s, red uniform, with her mother, and they had been so pretty in the picture. Her mother was pretty, elegant in her blue striped uniform, and Mariemaia had wanted to be like her. There were other people in her life, a man that shocked Quatre, the original Trowa Barton, talking with her mother, of Dekim Barton shouting at the woman. They argued about her, and there was a fight, and fear, so much fear rising up in her as she watched her mother's head hit the mantelpiece, bounce, and then she collapsed.

He could have predicted everything after that, and he would have been right.

Used, flashing images, drugs, conditioning, the repetition from her grandfather Dekim - how could he do that to her? A young girl, his own blood turned into a tool he fully intended to discard and destroy...

Dekim's whispering over and over again for her to kill her father, that was her mission, to kill her father and her father was...

Treize.

His surprise snapped the tethers of the conditioning, taking away the manic need to fulfil the mission she'd been given and he was left with a sobbing confused girl clinging to him.

Quatre felt Treize's hand on his shoulder; he hadn't gone far, and if she'd still been determined to kill him he'd apparently been prepared to give her multiple chances at it. "All the more reason to see this through." He sounded shaken. It would have been a coup for Dekim, to have had his granddaughter murder her own father, on worldwide tv. "Mariemaia. Your mother picked a lovely name."

There were sobs then and a muffled, "My mother is ...dead..." from the girl as he held her comfortingly rather than as a prisoner. "And my father...hates me, and would kill me if he knew about me..."

"No, you are wrong," Quatre said. "He does not hate you, he wants to help you. He tried to save you."

"Mariemaia." Treize was close, moving a little behind and to Quatre's side. It was very close, and if they hadn't been comfortable with each other it would have been awkward. Treize reached in, having taken his bloody gloves off, and lifted the girl's head from where it was tucked against Quatre's chest. "I did not know you existed. But I will make this up to you."

"I, I don't know what to do. Grandfather always told me what to do." She stuttered out and even though he knew Quatre asked aloud, "And who is your Grandfather?"

"Grandfather Dekim," she said and he literally felt the shock of that news start to spread like wildfire from the people in earshot.

Just as he was thinking to look for Dekim, he noticed Sally approaching them, hypospray in hand. "Well, don't worry Mariemaia, it's been a very stressful and tiring day for you. You probably ought to have a bit of a nap and then we'll sort out everything okay?"

"Okay?" She was looking at Treize, and she still sounded confused and shocky, and then Sally placed the sedative spray against her neck. It only took half a second for her to sag in Quatre's arms. "She's going to need to be taken to medical and put under guard for her own protection while we sort this out." Treize got to his feet, half helping Quatre at the same time.

"Dekim," he said, even as Sally dealt with Mariemaia. "Heero, have you eyes on Dekim Barton?" It was out there now and he wanted word to get out among the delegates. It had been an elegant enough ploy if it had worked, or even if Mariemaia had failed and been killed. Treize would have become the monster who sacrificed his own blood for power.

But the second shooter was not meant to fail and ...the adrenalin was still pumping because they had primed Dekim to shift into war mode.

And now they had Gundams in transit rather than immediately useful. Treize kept an arm half around his shoulders, orienting himself and catching his breath. "You need sugar, or you're going to fall over. And you look like a wendigo."

"Well, thanks for that," Quatre replied as Treize steered him to sit down. He needed Heero to actually talk to him. "You've got blood on your uniform. Was that the...?" He stopped himself from talking and said again. "Heero, I repeat, do you have eyes on Dekim."

"No. Rounding up any L3 delegates for interrogation. Eyes on Queen Relena?"

"Dorothy's people have her." Treize said it, leaning in to be heard on Quatre's earpiece. "Radio the Gundam transports with the bad news." He fished something out of his pocket -- there was blood on everything now -- and offered Quatre a candy. The room around them was still chaotic, and Treize fished out his datapad.

He mentally scouted. "Lady Anne is with her," he reported relieved because after all that, Relena had been the last person in his thoughts. "She is safe." Treize was right, he did need some sugar. He was obviously not using the correct clarity for the situation.

Treize was calm, blank contemplation, and Quatre realized he was pushing it back at Quatre; not gold soothing warmth, but calm, like looking at the night sky. "Do you need a G suit when you pilot?" He offered him another candy, and unwrapped one for himself.

"On Earth, yes it is preferable," Quatre answered, taking the candy gratefully. "But I can do without it if it is necessary."

He tapped something into his datapad, and nodded. "All right. We're leaving, Quatre. Going to talk to the other delegates briefly first. You up to walking?"

"Yes." He'd piloted Sandrock with a kidney blown out on him, this was nothing. He was going to need more food though, but there were nutrients in his Gundam if it had been left intact. And damn Heero for not trusting him enough right now to tell him where his own Gundam was. That hurt more than anything else. He shouldn't have to ask - and he wouldn't because Treize was right, there was one logical place he would be.

But he should have been told. He should have been trusted.

It hurt more than the bullet that had grazed his arm. Treize held a hand out to help him up, tucking his data pad into his jacket. "You fight with us now, and that means you're not alone."

He got up trying to maintain a fiction of competency. "We need to get a message to the others. If they were ready for mobilisation, L3 could have troops approaching within the hour."

"Message has been sent. And all we need are twenty minutes," Treize countered, and that was what Anne had said the night before. "It's not fiction." He squeezed Quatre's hand, and then let go once he was standing. And then he turned to head toward the backstage area where apparently the rest of the delegation had clustered.

For a moment, Quatre was alone. It was surreal. For all their talk the previous night - and he was glad now they had gone when they had decided, the chances of casualties was high depending on how much overkill Dekim Barton had gone for in the end.

He felt a brief sense of disassociation wondering if he was going to be able to stop Treize's self-destructive streak coming true, or whether Heero would try one of his reckless stunts, or Wufei would try to be honourable to an opponent that couldn't care less and ... Duo and Trowa. There was unfinished business there between them and Duo threw himself into battle, and Trowa...

He was in the middle of all of them and being asked to suspend those emotions for the moment.

Just stuck in the middle and expected to carry on.

There was an odd feeling of 'we need to work on that', and then Treize was coming back to him, making a rally up gesture over his head. "Moving out. Quatre, Epyon has been relocated beside your Sandrock."

He nodded then, and moved into a battle mode. Soon he would be reunited with Sandrock who was as much a true friend to him as any of his pilots.

"Try not to use the... interface system, " he said to Treize as they prepared to leave. "I don't think it would be a good fit at the moment."

There was a grim, odd look on Treize's face, but he nodded. OZ soldiers were moving around, and they were outside of the presentation hall. Someone, a Lt., came up and gave him and Treize each a thermos, which Treize accepted gratefully. "You and I have a great deal to talk about after this, so you're not allowed to do anything stupid either."

"I'm...intending to do a great deal more than talk," Quatre said, opening the thermos and smelling the scent of overly sweet hot chocolate. Perfect...and not too hot from the taste of it. He smiled a little. "I think I'd like to try out what we've not done to date."

Treize gave a quiet snort of laughter. "Do you? That sounds like an invitation I can't turn down." He started down the long hallway with Quatre. "There's a shortcut. I spent enough time on and off in this castle that even the rebuilds can't thwart me."

That was useful. "I like to offer incentive," he replied. He wanted Treize to live, he had more to live for now. A daughter, family... something beyond war and politics.

"Tidy and simple happy families, then, hmn?" Treize said it lightly, giving Quatre a sideways look as they walked. "I appreciate the sentiment. The incentive. I do. I promise I'm not planning anything right now. Is that enough? I'll stay around for the fascination of learning from you, even if it was nothing else."

"It's an incentive for me too," he said almost under his breath. "I don't want you hurt."

He meant that but he also knew the odds.

"You might know the odds, but you've never seen me fight." That was a glimpse of slyness, and Treize took a swig from the thermos as they walked. "I've seen you fight. I'm proud to have you at my back."

He paused a moment, and without speaking aloud he mentally said. _~ You are answering my thoughts Treize ~_

He didn't get anything quite so clear back, but a feeling of apology, and fascination. It wasn't a scientific fascination, it was more innocently, genuinely interested. "Sorry." He stopped in front of an elevator, and pressed a button. "They've found a G suit for you, and have it by Sandrock."

"Thank you," he said. He felt better for the sugar, and more determined. Old reflexes started to kick back in, old feelings and habits. He was just as conditioned as any of them he supposed. With any luck though, they would be the last of them.

The elevator seemed to go down forever, but it was really only three or four floors, and then there was another long hallway. He could smell grease and hear noise, metal, the bustle of a busy hanger at the end of the hallway. "Good luck, Quatre."

He wanted to kiss him, but Treize would have to make do with the thought of it instead. "Good luck Treize.”

Time to see if they could save the world.

* * *

Settling into the cockpit of Epyon was the best feeling in the world, just for a moment. It was like coming home; any cockpit was, and perhaps it was absurd to have a Leo cockpit in such a new, high speed design, but he enjoyed it. Powering it up, checking the comms, and finally putting the helmet on. He had always preferred to fly with the video screens in the cockpit alone, but...

He had to try it at least once. He was probably going to never fight in another battle again, if they pulled it off correctly. "Pilot 04, comms check." They were pulling the roof back for departure. Until they had confirmation from the other pilots that they had joined the channel, and were converging, the initial plan had been for them to flank the city and wait. Quatre by the harbor, him on the sad thing that passed for a mountain overlooking New Port City. 

"Pilot Epyon, I read you," Quatre's voice said. "Sandrock and I are ready." Quatre always talked about his Gundam as if it was a living being - not a person, but definitely something sentient in a manner beyond the Pilot's usual bond with equipment to which he would trust his life.

Treize could appreciate that; perhaps it was. He wasn't one to question what another felt or didn't feel about their mech. He loved them for the potential they symbolized, the familiarity, but he'd never done all of his fighting in just one machine the way the Gundam pilots had.

But Zechs had died in Epyon, so it felt right to take it out, instead of piloting one of the OZ Leos that would be supporting them. "Ground crew approves release. Comms check, pilot 02, 03, 05, Taurus, do you read me?" He knew they wouldn't. Not yet. 

No response. He imagined them going through their own scramble and attempts to pinpoint movement in space, calculating the best defense process. He and Quatre had moved faster than most.

"Pilot 01, comms check."

He didn't miss Quatre's pang of emotion at Heero's voice over the channel. Something the other pilot had done stirred up something dark and hurting, which was all the more noticeable against his usual golden energy.

"01, Epyon reads you. Going silent to manage OZ forces, but monitoring channels." OZ forces felt like a joke just then, but it would have to do; thirty Leos that he had relocated outside the city, near the hospital out of an abundance of caution. There were the comms from other cities coming in, the transmissions thin and hard to read because of the satellite damage the debris from the Eve wars were still inflicting on them, but they were professionals. There was a proper brigade closer to Bremen, another one near Hong Kong, the units at Lake Victoria, a small battalion in New Canada. Smaller units that had been in a repair status would scramble as they needed to.

It wasn't a great deal, compared to before the war.

They had some areas covered yet the sheer scale of things meant Quatre, Heero and himself would have to try and intersect an attack before they scattered.

It wasn't even a full division. If Dekim had been secretly churning out mobile suits and dolls since the Eve war and possible even before - especially if he had Vulkanus he could have very significant numbers.

"Taurus reads sir," Noin's voice was a welcome relief. "I'm glad to see you alive. The live broadcast was...interesting."

"I didn't even get to the part that was going to make them angry. It's a terrible way to get out of negotiations. Any movement up there?" If he wanted to use Epyon's internal system to heighten his skills, how much would spill over? It Hadn't driven him mad, hadn't ever come close, but if he could feel the upset from Quatre at Heero, what would Quatre feel if he turned on Epyon properly? 

"We've been scanning, and moving into position," Noin replied. "Tell Quatre he has the patience of a saint, it's like herding cats."

He could feel Quatre's faint amusement at that.

"I think he heard you." Why could he imagine 01 being angry about them clogging the comm line with chatter? That had to be something from Quatre's experience. He flipped channels for a moment, left the main one on monitor in his left ear, and checked in quickly with the commanders of the standing units. Somewhere in there he heard 02 come online, and then 03, and then 05.

And he could hear battle in the background of the last two, so the attack was obviously Dekim.

"Sir," Noin sounded hesitant. "We were right about everything, except.."

The amount of force Dekim Barton had brought to bear. The computer systems started receiving numbers from Lunar Base as sensors picked up the veritable flood of enemies headed their way.

"01, you have Sanc. 04, going up to meet them." He swapped channels, and ordered half the Hong Kong Brigade to enter space. It meant breaking atmo, and that was jarring. He'd never enjoyed the sensation since he'd broken his back at L3, and that...

He wished he'd known about Mariemaia, and Leia.

"Copy Epyon, joining you," Quatre replied and he could half sense Quatre talking on the other line to the Gundam pilots as the pair of them headed up through the atmosphere.

Quatre was shielding a lot of it, to stop from distracting him but he was being distracted anyway by all data flooding in.

Epyon was shaking roughly as they powered up - a new modification on the Gundams at least he hoped they were appreciating. No more stealing shuttles and hitching rides.

Straight up and back, like the Specials had done it on mission. He braced himself for crossing atmosphere, and it was as rough as he remembered, and Christ if his head wasn't going to protest the whole damn time.

Not that a headache would matter if Dekim Barton finally got what he wanted. He took a moment to orient himself to the chaos, to the vastness of space speckled with mobile dolls, a swarm of them. 

No doubt about it, some were going to get past them to Earth so he hoped Yuy was as good as he seemed to think he was, because he was their last line of defense.

"Duo used to reckon that one Gundam was the equivalent of thirty mobile dolls," he heard Quatre murmur on comms. "I'm hoping we've improved since then."

"I haven't improved since then. If you can block me off..." He had a persistent concussion; he was missing an eye, for all that he had worked to regain a sense of depth. He started to go through his checks, and maneuvered closer to the moon, planning to use the pull of gravity against the dolls. "I'm activating Epyon."

"I'll try but..." Quatre sighed audibly. "Be very careful Treize."

In a battle with overwhelming odds against them? He'd do his best.

Treize tightened his harness, inhaled, and flipped the cover off the button to activate the Zero system. "You promised me something. I plan to be around for that." Just in case anyone was monitoring their comms, he did like to feign discretion. Badly, sometimes.

And then he felt Epyon spinning up for a moment, and it felt very much like being electrocuted again, like a seizure where everything went blank and sideways with pain. Then it all cleared, and all he could see was the battlefield and the mobile dolls.

50 to 1. He was going to increase those odds dramatically in their favour, and launched himself at the nearest doll, tearing it apart with the laser whip.

The flow of information into his mind was like a rush of the best drug; the feeling of omniscience, the power behind it and the fact he could just dive into battle and destruction would flow around him like silk and steel in an elaborate dance of death.

It felt like they were going to survive; it felt like Earth might stand a chance, if he could just keep widening the void where dolls had once been, clear more space for the other pilots to maneuver. He fell into it, a wonderful trance of fighting and slashing and culling through machines that had no soul.

* * *

Quatre sliced, and hacked mobile dolls to pieces, but even as he felt and watched Treize dance with Zero taking the lead he was aware that a lot of them had just slid past, not engaging, heading to Earth. With the numbers swarming them he couldn't stop it. "01...we're engaged with the main force but a lot are bypassing the battle and are entering atmo Heero," Quatre said urgently. "They will focus mainly on Sanc, but will target OZ headquarters to give a chance and some of the bases." 

Quatre heard Treize order the unit from Bremen to head there, to support. Had the unit from Hong Kong spread out to create a net to close in on dolls.

And then he went under again, lost to the slaughter. It didn't feel like insanity or questioning his purpose, not at all. Epyon wanted Treize to do what Treize had done for a couple of decades. It almost felt safe to leave him to it; 05 was chasing in closer, following and cutting through a unit heading to earth.

"01 needs support?" 

"Negative," Heero replied over the comms. "I can deal with these."

"05, situation at L3?" he asked, allowing the information to flow. He'd learned how to simulate that flow of zero - and with the taste of it present in his awareness, he recreated his own version of instant analysis.

"They've completely demobilized to space. Trowa took out their comm center, but we're looking for the secondary with no luck."

"We can't afford to let that mobile base slip past by splitting up." He said. "The amount of dolls we're seeing means they must have Vulkanus. I'm willing to bet that has become their secondary." Now where the hell did you hide a mobile manufacturing base?

"Mars." Treize's voice sounded strained, and he was still cutting swaths of destruction through the machines that were starting to converge on him now. "Hid it on Mars in the colony preparation bases. Had a unit deconing it, didn't." He thought at Quatre, the specifications and the numbers and the layout of the base and the size and the skeleton staff that had been tasked with taking it apart.

He needed to back him up. "05, Mars...head for Mars colony preparation bases, and recon. If we manage to control the attack here we will converge there, but first we have to stabilise the situation."

A fancy way of saying, trying not to get killed. He was taking some hits, they both were, but Treize was so wrapped in his fight he didn't even notice.

"03 in support of earth." He felt it with relief, someone else drawing away mobile dolls, but they were still targeting him and Epyon, before glancing away to Earth. It would help the burden, and then Noin chimed in. Without the colonies to support, that was helpful. That would get them closer to stabilization.

He couldn't help himself, his awareness reached to feel the pull and pulse of each of his links, just to get a taste of how they were doing.

Treize was...feeling alive, feeling that euphoria battle gave him, Heero was all sharp focus and intent to kill with little internal satisfaction except for the fact it took him closer to accomplishing his mission. He glimpsed explosions in the sky over Sanc from lifted memory and decided he was doing okay.

He was managing, and the OZ units were helping. Wufei was focused on the distant satellite that he was headed for, that he couldn't see but had been told was there, cutting through dolls as he passed them, not getting distracted. And then slowly he felt for Duo, who was a sudden appearance on the battlefield, ripping through a swatch of dolls that had been closing in on Epyon.

Duo's style in one - stealth and sudden death.

And it had put him right in the heart of an ambush that had been planned on Epyon. It took him a fraction of a second to see the pattern because both Treize and Duo were at risk and he pushed Sandrock's verniers to the max to dart in, raising his shield to cover Duo's back.

The impact was enough to rattle him around in the cockpit violently and the energy discharge of a direct hit licked over him. But Sandrock had more solid armour than Deathscythe and what would have pierced 02, just battered him around.

"Thanks, Quatre." And then there was a shockwave as Epyon pivoted in close and took out a Taurus doll that was too close to Sandrock's backside. Just for a moment it was all three of them covering each other.

"Noin, turn on your strobe, their paint job is too close to yours."

"Sir, forces from colony attack are converging on your position," Lady Anne said over the comms and at the moment there were the three of them instinctively forming up to work together against an unending barrage. He was going to be black and blue from all this.

Quatre orientated his thoughts. They were close to L2 at the moment. Draw the protector away and it would be easy enough for them to launch from the dark side of the moon to strike.

"Hold position Lady Anne - they are trying to draw you out. 03, status?"

"Supporting 01; Target is Sanc, no comms with Queen Relena. 01 has dismounted for the palace."

It was a relief that Heavyarms had headed down to Earth then, if Heero was going to focus on whatever his mission was rather than cooperation.

"Flanking." Epyon maneuvered, breaking away for a moment to take out a chunk of dolls before falling back into position with Deathscythe and Sandrock.

Still, it reminded him of the times when he had tried to get them to cooperate. "Support forces to Sanc, It's down to you then 03," he said as the three of them began their strange triad waltz against the enemy. "Taurus, we need support." They needed to break the ever growing amount of mobile dolls raging against them. Even if Wufei found Vulkanus and hopefully refrained from taking it on alone, they needed to hold this wave back.

"Be careful which Taurus you take out." She had her strobes on now, and that helped, one Taurus cutting through the other Taurus, circling them and protecting from odd angles. It was letting them widen their circle a little more, starting to get clear.

He felt for Treize, checking he wasn't making his head worse with Zero and briefly wondered as his glowing hot shotel slid another suit in two how he had become the one telling people what to do after the disaster of last time. Quatre saw the minute shift. "Duo, strike north now!" he called out, seeing a breakpoint.

Duo broke away, heading sharply for the break point he saw, and Epyon made a split second decision to circle out of Sandrock's sight, covering his six, and Quatre felt when Epyon smashed against the back of Sandrock, having shielded Quatre from a Vayeate doll's attack.

"Confirmed base well outside Mars. Starting attack now." Wufei's voice cut through the jarring shock of being knocked forward.

"No, Wufei!" he called out. Could he and Treize hold off all of these together? He saw only one way out of this and he didn't want to do it.

"Duo, Noin, go support Wufei, he'll never make it alone. They will have laser defences."

And then gently and quietly, he opened himself up to Treize's mind and the Zero system running through him because the only way he could see them surviving as the only two fighting here was if both of them were connected to Zero.

* * *

He felt when Quatre connected in a little. It was a damn weird intrusion, a feeling of something else, warm and familiar in the midst of all of the data, and he ignored it as benign, letting himself focus on torquing correctly to fight, as the dolls seemed to thicken in the sky around them. The difference was the added data burden of two sets of calculations, and he could manage it, breathing through it and carrying on the fight. He needed to protect Quatre, he needed to protect Earth.

Quatre was there, not just warmth now but something blazing in his mind. He had been faltering a little before but this had the strange feeling of someone installing a high speed processor in a system that could not tolerate that speed. Temporarily he was overclocking his mind but it would not last. Time was now a factor. They needed to do this and get to the Mars pre-colony base to finish this.

Two of them against an army, every reaction at a superhuman speed, the communication between them entirely mind to mind.

Seamless, below the conscious level; he'd never fought that smoothly in his life, that well-coordinated, but it took the words from him, left him in feeling and response and action, sunk into the link and the controls of Epyon, until the sky around them was littered with the detritus of disabled and destroyed mobile dolls.

And Leos. Manned Leos, their pilots dead in the drift, two ship recovery units starting to dart where it was safe, looking for signs of life and finding none, and it hurt his heart, hurt, again, to-- it should have been over.

He pulled his focus together enough to push a thought of converging on Mars on Quatre, and started the move. He was going to run out of Zero as they reached the outskirts and the asteroids near Mars, he could tell, so he tried to think through all the possibilities he could, though he could feel Quatre crying out at some of the courses of action, denying them.

Which if it was a winning strategy, if it gave them victory over Dekim, why deny it? And it wasn't that Zero was running out, but he was running out. So he needed to power through, because the limitation wasn't the system, it was him.

He'd never been as good a pilot as Zechs or 01.

But he could feel the urgency as they were getting closer to Mars, fighting against the stream of dolls headed to a place that was finally turning the tide on them.

There was a variable there, that Zero disclosed to him just as it started to fall apart on him. Another very familiar mobile suit, one that he would recognize anywhere rather shockingly fighting alongside the other Gundams. With that variable he could feel the seizure feeling tense and before it could take hold Quatre shoved Epyon out of his head with what seemed like great effort.

"That's...the Tallgeese," Quatre said over the comms. "That's..."

"Mirialdo." Impossible. Impossible, but if anyone were possible, somehow, it was his dear friend.

Who'd tried very hard to kill him.

"It's an elegant Gundam. Howard must have restored it." He struggled, and was half aware he was speaking French, laughing a little at himself as he tried to orient with the Zero system off. There were too many Dolls, and he could feel himself lagging, that edge of seizure feeling there even without the Epyon system. 

"We need to take out the Vulkanus," Quatre said over comms, and they both knew that the main options Treize had been given for success was flying Epyon right down the barrel of the laser gun barrage and hitting the guns generators. It had ended in the destruction of Epyon as well as the base - the sort of equation he was familiar with.

"Yes." Everything got a little wild, heart beating too fast, and he needed to focus. "Keep me clear while I go for the generators." They didn't have comms with Tallgeese, and that was going to be a challenge, but Wufei was already fighting in wary coordination with Tallgeese.

"No Treize," Quatre denied that course firmly and Sandrock was manoeuvring in front of him. "We both saw the outcome of that and the odds of even that outcome without Zero is... astronomical. This way we might ...survive. Sandrock is heavily armoured, I will be ahead of you as a shield as long as I can. Then the odds shift."

"We can bring Zero back up." The odds would shift even more and they didn't have time. He wasn't even sure why he was arguing and when it had become 'we', but he shot out a doll coming up behind Quatre, and struggled for a moment to focus. Then he just started to move, because he had to, because they didn't have time.

"No, you can't without a seizure, and then we lose everything," Quatre was adamant about that. "Let's do this."

They slotted into formation as if they had practiced it a hundred times, Epyon riding the wake of Sandrock flying ahead with shotels flashing and being battered by the defensive battery. He felt as much as heard what that was doing but he had to stay focused on the mission. They were nearly there when a full blast hit Sandrock’s shield and it broke apart, sending the Gundam tumbling, crackling with electrical discharge.

He couldn't stop or break from his objective. He pressed on, because if he could clear the battery they would be safe, the base would fall quickly to Tallgeese and Altron. Treize fired everything he had, the blaster gun hitting the generators and finally blowing them up. He felt a doll catch Epyon, twisted sharply, caught it with his laser whip. Fuck.

The alarms from Epyon made it clear it was a series of critical hits. It was not going to be around much longer. After all that effort, he wasn't going to make it after all.

"No..." Quatre's voice was barely more than a whisper, but it stood against that Zero-prophesied fate. "I'm...here. Come here."

Treize was disoriented and tired, and it would have been easy to sag against his harness and let go, but there was a pull there in that thread of a voice. He fumbled with the latch, struggling to disconnect the helmet from the data feeds without taking the helmet off or accidentally disconnecting it from the seal of his suit, and then he pulled the hatch door. When Epyon went, he wasn't going to be trapped in the cockpit, electrocuted and burnt.

Hard vacuum was better to face, and he went with the gravity and vacuum pull when the cockpit opened.

The cold of space was intense and he was sucked out at speed, floated in the absolute silence. He could feel an area over his heart burning, glowing almost with Quatre's fear and resolve, Sandrock sparking and damaged but then a great arm swinging through space and a giant hand scooping him towards a damaged hatch.

It opened and closed slowly, and everything was so cold, so fucking cold, and then he felt the seal close, felt the cockpit repressurize as he leaned over Quatre on the controls, the space amazingly tight. His back was pressed against the ceiling of the little space, head ducked down, trying to not press any controls, hoping feeling came back into more than his face. The helmet gave him a warning that the oxygen levels were coming up.

"Quatre." He shook as he brought a hand to the neck of Quatre's OZ issued spacesuit, trying to see if he was still responsive as more than a glow. 

Quatre's eyes opened. "Treize," and there was a world of relief in that and he reached out to put his hand over his heart and just smiled. "You made it." He seemed to shift a little and there had been some pretty bad damage in the cockpit from the look of the scorching but it wasn't venting oxygen and that was what they needed right now.

He was going to keep the helmet on Quatre, and he was so cold. So cold, burning, and they were sitting ducks. "Can you pilot?"

"I can ...pilot," Quatre said, very obviously trying to pull himself together, and not exactly working. He couldn't move his left arm properly and that was a difficulty when you needed both to pilot effectively. Treize had the horrible thought that he'd felt something happen way back at the assassination attempt and they'd completely ignored it.

He couldn't pilot, from the scorching inside he'd taken some jolts which had messed his reactions up at the least and he knew what an electrical hit could do. "Liar." Not that Treize thought he was any better, but he shifted, unfastened Quatre's harness, and slid an arm around him, pulling him up against Treize's chest for a moment, long enough to get himself into the cockpit chair, and leaned back, Quatre settled onto his lap. He thumbed the comms system on, and tried to focus. "Sandrock leaving, Epyon vacant." He wasn't sure how much of a fight he could put up, but to protect themselves.

"Where's Quatre?" Duo's voice over the comms had a hint of panic to it and anger. "If you've chucked him out I'll.."

"I'm here," Quatre answered, sounding calm and soothing, at odds with how he appeared. "Both here."

He leaned his head back, tightening the arm across Quatre's chest. He really needed both hands, but just for a moment, he needed to orient himself. No one cared if they were both there. It was a strange feeling Gundam, and it wasn't rejecting him, but it wasn't the same technique as he was used to. But it could still take out dolls. They needed to... try to go to earth, or get out of the way. Quatre needed medical care.

"I'm okay," Quatre said, answering his internal speculation. "Just... took some bad hits." He was trying hard to move but couldn't and with a sigh seemed to exhaust his physical strength.

But not of his mind - the link opened again, the familiarity of piloting Sandrock just there for the taking. "Relax." He didn't dare take the helmets off, but Quatre could lean back, head against his shoulder, helmet against helmet ridiculously, and he lowered his other hand to the controls. His joints ached from the decompression - gas in the blood turning to bubbles - and everything felt like fire, but he was mobile, and increasingly able to get Sandrock to fight, enough to orient on how the attack on the disabled satellite was going.

Taking out the generators had allowed their force to get the upper hand, especially with the intervention of the Tallgeese.

"That's the worst of them done," 05 said as the mobile suits began to flee.

"Perhaps," came the unmistakable sound of Zechs over the comms. "But I rather suspect there is one last battle to have on Earth."

Not safe yet. Treize closed his eyes for a moment, wondering when Tallgeese had gotten hooked into the comms line, and tried to push down a visceral reaction to that once familiar voice. Instead, he silently piloted Sandrock back toward Earth, alert as he could manage and ready to protect if he needed to.

He could feel Quatre against him, seemingly conserving his strength. He said that, rather than passed out, because Treize could still feel him actively processing. Every now and then Quatre would send mental apologies to him for whatever reason, he didn't know but it didn't stop him planning.

He cut sending on comms, went into silent mode; just focused on breathing and the transit back to Earth, getting the timing and trajectory right, trying to engage any doll they came across. Just had to keep going. "Stop apologizing. You've been magnificent."

"I... am not helping much now," Quatre said with effort but it was a good sign he could speak. "Need to know, suicide dolls would be his final move. All or nothing."

Damn. He flipped comms on, trying to boost Sandrock forward with as much power as he thought either of them could stand. "04 expecting self-destruction of the remaining dolls." He needed air, everything was going funny and grey, and he stopped actively piloting enough to get extra oxygen pumping through the helmet to combat the depressurisation, and hit the controls on Quatre's suit to do the same.

He was pretty sure he heard 02 swearing as they pushed hard back towards Earth; all the dolls they had missed were heading for Sanc and 03 and Lady Anne were being swarmed. "Trowa..." he heard Quatre murmur and then he really started to pull himself back together through force of will. "01 status report, we need you in the air."

"Barton dead; shot by an OZ soldier. Rejoining." And Noin was moving into form, and he couldn't quite get himself onto a trajectory to land, to seek refuge when there was still a fight to manage.

Treize was shaking, fighting his own body, trying to brace as he brought an arm up over Quatre's chest. "Sandrock breaking atmo to rejoin."

It was hellishly rough, all the worse for some of the damage they had taken, but they didn't have time. If Dekim was dead, if Quatre was right, then the mobile dolls would have some form of dead man switch that would send them into suicide mode.

They were like falling stars, all of them, this time to save Earth, not attack it.

He kept thinking 'hang in there' at Quatre, until it blurred into just a feeling, an urging.

The landing was hard, but they came down near the harbour, in an unpopulated area, and he felt sick, dizzy for a moment, and increased the pressure. And it didn't matter, because there were dolls coming near New Port City, and in a way, he was back to 186, when everything in Sanc had really gone sideways the second time, calling in support fire that was never going to come.

He fought and Quatre spoke short brief bursts of information - directing defence points to the best strategic places as rapidly as possible. They managed to be there as with one accord, the dolls stopped pivoting and then started a nosedive downwards at full speed, programmed to swerve and hit defenders and then high population areas.

Everyone was having a rough time of it from the comms-chatter. Even one of them hitting in civilian areas would cause carnage.

So they had to fight, had to surge toward the remaining dolls. He heard Lady rejoin the fight, and the unit from Bremen was regrouping to fight back as best as they could. Sandrock was responsive, and Quatre was guiding him through the secrets and its eccentricities.

But he was still missing half his visual field, and he was lagging, and he missed the doll coming in from their left.

Quatre didn't and lashed out with Sandrock's shotel, but the explosion knocked them tumbling towards the ground. He managed to take out another as they dropped and then they hit.

It stunned him; they hadn't been harnessed in, and the Gundam dug deep into the ground as it hit, half buried. The Gundanium kept it from collapsing into a crush, but the sensors were fried, and the red alarm lights were recommending evacuation, and he was mostly sure they were sideways.

Mostly sure.

The opening to the cockpit popped open, seemingly of its own accord and Quatre murmured "Thank you Sandrock," as they tried between them to get out. The comms channel was going crazy with them being downed but they seemed to be gaining the upper hand so he just had to hope they could crawl out and far enough away that they could be found.

By someone on their side preferably. Treize had an arm around Quatre, ostensibly to keep the other pilot upright, but just as much to steady himself as they got out of Sandrock and spilled onto a scarred hillside. His chest felt tight, head spinning, and it was with reluctance that he took Epyon's helmet off since it wasn't going to supply oxygen without the ship connection.

Blooms of light and thick black smoke peppered the sky above him and they were too open here but he had no strength left to do more than pull off Quatre's helmet too.

He looked even paler than usual, his eyes trying to focus on him as the final part of the battle took place overhead.

They were out of the battle. They were out, and he half crouched, half sat and finally laid back on the warm earth, a hand on Quatre's side as he looked up at the sky. "And in the nights the heavy Earth, too, falls; from out the stars into the Solitude." His brother had loved that one. "Rest now. We did what we could."

He felt a sigh of aching relief and Quatre went still beside him, and all he could do was look up at the fireworks of death and destruction before he closed his own eye.


	2. Chapter 2

Holy shit holy shit holy shit.

He was already tired, his heart was racing and he was wild with it as he broke from the formation they'd had at the outskirts of the moon and earth. That battle had been wild and the numbers were overwhelming, and now it was getting worse. And Wufei was crazy.

Noin was on his readouts, her white Taurus strobing so she wasn't mistaken for the enemy. "02 what's your status?" her voice crackled over the comm as they headed towards the indicated base.

"Good. Freaking excited!" He darted, darting sideways to strike at a passing Leo doll that was on a mission path past them.

"Rein it in and save it for the base. It's likely to be the heaviest defended point of this whole operation," Noin replied curtly and he recognised her commander voice for her trainees.

It was sort of like someone had just vocally kicked him in the ankle, sideways, to get him to fall into line. "Yeah yeah. The shit going down back there was pretty good, too."

"L2 take much damage?" she queried as sensors started to ping up targets up ahead. "How much civilian damage are we talking about?"

"The usual?" He got lock-in on a few distant ones and started to fire. "Not too bad this time. How come no one attacks L1, huh? Tired of this shit."

"They could see Anne was guarding it and went after easier meat like Gundam pilots," Noin quipped back. All of a sudden there was a cacophony of pings popping up and he could hear Noin inhale.

"Okay, we've officially upgraded from a shit-load to a fuck-ton on enemies. Where the hell is 05? If he's got himself killed..."

He could see a real cluster of them. "Up ahead." It was easier to start firing, just enough to draw some off because whatever algorithm they were programmed to wasn't smart enough.

"02, Laser canon defences are live, watch your trajectory," Wufei said curtly over the Comms. He sounded pissed enough that Duo reckoned he'd taken a toasting of some type.

That was never good. He started to dodge, so the damn thing couldn't get a good fix on him. "How's the whole waiting for backup shit buddy?"

"There was a necessity," Wufei answered. "A wave was trying to launch for Earth. To wait would have created an overwhelming force. Be aware, it has a pulse shots."

"Dammit," Noin cursed. "Those are -" They were interrupted by a pulse barrage that ripped through their area and Noin's Taurus had to control spin to avoid being hit.

"Aw fuck." Taurus didn't have the armour the original Gundams did, and he tried to move to intervene. It got him lightly hit, swooping in to take out a couple of dolls, and then he heard more firing. 

This time Noin was not so lucky, although her skills was testament to the fact the pulse cannon just clipped on of her verniers. "Shit! Taken damage. Need cover while I reroute to compensate."

"Behind me! I'll cover you!" Someone needed to get in and get that pulse beam out, but he couldn't see a real good way to do it.

"Is that Tallgeese?"

"What? It..."

"Apologies for my late arrival," a smooth voice Duo remembered from way too many battles came over the Comms. "Took a while to get over from the outpost."

"Zechs?!" Noin's whisper had the intensity of a shout.

"Time for reunions when we are not about to die," Wufei cut in. "Another wave is launching."

Why had no one given a shit about a missing base, and why hadn't they dealt with it already? Fuck, it was crazy to fight that many mobile dolls, and he was started by to feel the strain of it, as Zechs fell into battle with them.

Whatever had happened to the Lightning Count, it hadn't affected his capabilities in battle. He concentrated on covering Noin and that left Duo the chance to fall into step with Wufei, swinging his scythe of glowing red death at any mobile doll in range.

Didn't help with barrelling down to take out the laser cannon. The pulse barrage was so rapid and intense they couldn’t tackle the mobile dolls and them at the same time.

So they could keep the dolls in check but they couldn't make any impact on the factory. They just had to keep dodging and hope they ran out of fucking dolls sometime soon.

It was so frustrating not to make head way despite all their feints and attempts to split attention. The AI on the cannon was too damn good. It had a 360 degree orientation if you tried to get around it, flank it, it could split its focus. It made him yell at it in frustration as the hits they started taking rattled him around in his cockpit. Then there were two pings heading towards them rapidly and he was relieved to recognise the signature of Sandrock and...well, less so to see Epyon but right now he'd take anything.

"Treize survived?" Zechs murmured over the comms. Man, he must have been well out of touch to miss that.

"Bastard does nothing but live," Duo muttered, darting left fast to intercept a doll from hitting Noin. He hailed Quatre on the line. Maybe two more mechs would turn the odds.

"Duo. We have no comms to Tallgeese. Stay clear and stand by with others. We're going after the cannon" There was just a hint of the clipped calm in Quatre's voice that instantly put the hairs up on the back of his neck.

Because that made no sense, Sandrock didn’t have Zero anymore and he had no idea how the two of them were even working together that well. He'd heard people blah blah that Khushrenada was an amazing pilot, but every one of them was a fucking amazing pilot, and he-- holy fuck they were going straight at the laser.

Sandrock swung in front of Epyon, it's shield to the fore taking hit after hit against its heavy armour, as Quatre swung those shotels to slice and dice the mobile dolls hurtling at them. He couldn't fucking believe what he was doing. Epyon was using the other Gundam as a personal shield.

Absolutely unbelievable, and what a fucking asshole. If he hadn't been basically pinned in place trying to keep the dolls from overwhelming Noin and Wufei -- and there was no way Deathscythe could do that, it wasn't robust that way, and neither was Epyon.

And then Epyon broke free, and drove down at the laser.

Sandrock was spinning, arcing with discharge, shattered shield fragmented in space. That did not look good, but Epyon spun and charged down the cannon and lasted long enough to take it out before being pushed back by explosions. It was clearly completely compromised to the vacuum of space. That was it, the General was dead. There was no coming back from that.

There was electrical discharge and honest to god, it was probably likely that Epyon's core exploding would help finish crippling the base, but now they could move more freely. He could get in there, rescue Sandrock, maybe.

Duo didn't expect to see the cockpit open, a body exiting Epyon in all the crazy chaos.

"Holy fuck, is anyone else seeing this?" he said over the comms. Khushrenada was taking a walk in cold vacuum!

"Duo, you need to keep the mobile dolls off of us as we take out the base," Wufei said as Altron swept past in tandem with Tallgeese.

Sandrock reached out, and Duo had to put his attention on that, keeping Noin half clear as they tried to do the right thing, but shit. Shit, how did someone survive that?

Apparently by hijacking another Gundam. He was entering into Sandrock and that just seemed wrong. What about Quatre? Was he okay? How much room could there be in there. So help him god, if Treize booted Quatre out...

He didn't see a second body out there and the cockpit closed, he didn't think he'd booted Quatre, but he had to defend himself so he wasn't sure.

The base went up and he was kept busy trying to clear the dolls and it was a while before he could reorientate on what Sandrock was doing. The comms crackled.

"Sandrock leaving. Epyon vacant."

What the fuck, that wasn't Quatre!

"Where's Quatre?!" he knew he sounded on the edge of rage but he could feel fear and anger surge up through him. "If you've chucked him I'll.."

"I'm here," Quatre's voice sounded soft. Hurt. "Both here."

Quatre was hurt, and he didn't know how they were both fitted in there, except he wasn't thinking at all of the general, a sort of imposing guy, looming over Quatre and yeah, someone sitting in someone else's lap was probably what was happening. Fuck.

"That's the worst of them done," 05 said as the mobile suits began to flee.

"Perhaps," came the unmistakable sound of Zechs over the comms. "But I rather suspect there is one last battle to have on earth."

And somehow Sandrock was already flying away, on hard burner.

"That's our cue guys," Noin said shortly. "Anything that got past us and the first waves will be headed straight for Earth. Probably to Sanc."

"It's always Sanc," Zechs said from Tallgeese and boosted after the other pair.

He decided to cleave close to Sandrock, trying to keep up. Every once in a while he could see Sandrock arc with some form of electrical damage. Then he heard Treize's voice, "04 expecting self-destruction of remaining dolls."

He was still with them then. He felt a sense of relief even as Wufei said. "Trowa and Anne are being swarmed! they need back up."

Yeah but, mobile dolls were everywhere and they were slashing and fighting and it seemed aimless...

"Diamond attack pattern south west quadrant," Quatre's voice came over comms, quiet but firm. "Zechs, take them before they flank Wing. 05 you need to clear the route to the power plant. Self-destructing dolls will target there. 02, take the bay. We have a convergent pattern centering there. We will join you. 03, let 01 take on city defence and protect the power plant. Lady Anne, Noin break off and intercept clusters flanking the south population. They will try and draw the main forces from the strategic targets."

Okay that sounded alive, and Sandrock was still flying, fighting now even with the bad mechanics or janky hydraulics, whatever was broken. Duo could focus a little better, keeping his head on the fight. "Sandrock breaking atmo to rejoin."

He was along with them, Deathscythe shuddering as they descended. For once Wufei actually obeyed orders and Heero reappeared in the fray as they headed for the bay. It was a fucking mess. Mobile dolls everywhere, all of them just intent on getting past them to kill and destroy. Programmed to hit targets with high collateral damage and they had been fighting all goddamn day.

And the bay was hard fighting, up above the city, trying to intercept and knock mechs into the ocean. He couldn't let himself think about what every doll that might slide past them meant to the people down below.

And he couldn't let himself be distracted when Sandrock went down.

He could see it though, see the way the Gundam ploughed deep into the dunes around the bay, see the smoke, see the crumpled silence and it fuelled a fighting rage to just finish this right now.

"Sandrock down! Fuck!"

Fuck fuck fuck. He just needed to see it to the end, needed to help take out the last few dolls, except the last few just kept coming.

"Status on 04?" Heero's voice was sharp. "You have eyes on him?" Bit late now to be concerned after doubting him. He wanted to shout at him ‘was saving the world again how he'd been compromised’?

"Powerplant secure," Trowa said calmly and then his tone shifted to something more urgent. "Duo, can you see him?"

"Saw where they went down. I'll go check -- probably gunna need an ambulance." Or body bags, because the silence was too ominous.

"Nearly done here." Noin supplied. "I'll get medical sent to the bay. Too damn close. Anyone able to go help Duo?"

"I'm close enough," Zechs responded. "Go after him. I've got this."

"Going after 04." Fuck fuck fuck, there was so much smoking wreckage down there, the problem was picking out which bit of smoking wreckage was going to be Quatre.

He couldn't lose him; they'd all been pretty shitty to him even with the best intentions and he knew Quat had been hurt by not being trusted. Now this - he should have damned them all and just slipped out of custody and gone after him. They would have found a way, they'd lived on the run from Earth and Space for over a year.

Duo needed him to be okay. General fucking Khushrenada could go fuck himself.

He just needed Quatre to be okay, and if he was, he was going to glue himself to Quatre and run for it with him. No questions, just they were making a run for it.


	3. Chapter 3

Everything had happened so fast.

That was how it always was, and that was why the phrase was a cliche, but one moment there had been a speech, and then gunfire, and she was being swept off into a room deeper within the castle with the rest of her entourage. One moment it was peace talks, and then everything turned to war.

Heero had hovered near her at the start at least but as the confirmation came through that a large scale invasion or assault was under way, he had looked at her and said, "Get to safety. Stay with Sally Po," before turning to leave.

Sally was known and trusted, and military. How was it that in a world of peace she kept having to turn to the men and women who wielded guns? She could see delegates, L1, L2, the intel had been that it was L3's possible work, was it?

She needed to get them to safety though. They had bunkers and shelters all over the city now after the repeated attacks on Sanc, prioritised over fortification. "Delegates!" she called out "To me! We need to get you the shelter in the palace." She knew not a one of them would remember or have read the orientation packs that they were sent so she was gesturing to the security detail.

It was hard to pick out the delegates from the media and other staff, but they all seemed to hurry in the direction of her and the security detail. That was good, and her people started to lead the way.  
And then Sally fell into step with her. "Escalated quickly, didn't it?" 

"Unfortunately as Heero predicted," Relena said, having to acknowledge this time it was not a soldier's paranoia. "Where's Dorothy? And the other pilots? I only saw Quatre at the speeches."

"Propositioned in space. Dorothy..." Sally looked around, back and forth among the milling people they were hurrying out among. "She's over there. Dorothy!"

"Queen Relena," Dorothy was sharp eyed looking around to see who had called in the chaos. "You should get to the shelter."

"So should you," Sally pointed out. "What are you doing?"

"Dekim - his core delegation disappeared just as the alarms were sounding. They very clearly have a plan."

"Everyone came here armed, didn't they?" It halfway surprised her and halfway angered her, because this was supposed to be a peace conference, and everyone had shown up in an armed posture either to attack or fully expecting someone to attack. No one seemed to have their heart really in it.

"They aren't going to seize Sanc."

"I think they are after something bigger than that," Dorothy said sharply. "Not everything is about Sanc. " She tossed her blonde hair. "They will target you as a symbol of the new peace however."

Both her and Sally touched ear pieces and Relena belatedly remembered she had been given one as well and hastily fumbled with it to turn it on.

Perhaps she should have kept it on.  
"--to secure location. All available security, find and secure Dekim Barton and L3 delegation."

That was Heero, his curt clipped tones rattling out orders as he and Wing Zero prepared for protection duty.

Dorothy was speaking over the comm as well. "03, what's the situation in space?"

"Fleet of mobile dolls incoming," Trowa's voice sounded. "Triangulating the position of their comms as instructed."

"Brilliant. Carry on, we're headed to the secure area." Dorothy caught Sally's eyes and cut a look sideways that Relena thought she should have followed.

They wanted her to go to the secure area? Both Sally and Dorothy looked like that was the last place they were ending up. They would assume that she was going there and if they wanted to kill her as they suggested, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.  
"I don't think we should do that. If I go there, one blast would kill everyone in that bunker. They are no doubt watching for me to go there."

"Come, we have a secondary location." Sally stepped smoothly out, and then it was quick, getting lost in the crowd of fleeing staff and delegates but yes -- they were running away from the larger group, slipping down a side hallway.

"You realise of course... when she does not turn up there , they will start to come after her?" Dorothy mentioned as they half ran.

"Might be something we can use if the security team doesn't pick them up," Sally replied with a bright smile.

"Are you talking about using me as bait?" Relena asked, wishing that she had kept up with a bit more physical training. Heero would just give her an ‘I told you so’ look when he got back.

"You're bait by existing. You need to use it to your advantage, Queen Relena." Sally had a twinkle in her eyes, looking thrilled as they ran, jogging up to a staircase she didn't remember.

Dorothy tapped her earpiece again. "03, sitrep."

"Forces from L3 are creating heavy resistance. Attack fleets launched towards the colonies. 04 and Epyon relocating to space to support," Trowa reported as calmly as if he was sitting next to them. "01 now in sole defence mode over your position."

Her earpiece beeped on a private channel, "Come in Relena, " Heero's voice was in her ear. "Confirm that you are secure in the safe zone?"

She pressed the outside, felt the button click and engage. "We are headed to a secure zone."

"Relena, you need to get there now." She could imagine his eyes, intense and blue boring into her. "The first attackers are breaking atmo."

Sally opened a door Relena didn't know was there, and gestured her in. "We're here. It's the--"

"Auxiliary control centre, and I have few of our men on the way. They'll waste time at the main bunker."

"We're in the secondary site. Sally and Dorothy are with me Heero, I'm fine don't worry about me," Relena said trying to be reassuring. Heero shouldn't be distracted from the fight. That would be dangerous.

"Security, tell me you have identified the locations of the L3 forces."

"Pinned down at their suites."

Sally herded her into the space and started to boot up systems, while Dorothy did the same. "We'll be able to monitor the battle from here."

"Good," Relena said thankfully as she wanted to see if Heero was okay and how the others were doing. "I need to be able to see how the evacuation is going. The city is once again a battleground."

"One day you'll allow me to build defences," Heero's voice whispered in her earpiece and that was almost light hearted considering how many times they had raised their voices at each other over the problem.

"05 reporting, we have made battle contact over L3. 03 is targeting their comms tower, I am defending the colony."

Neither Khushrenada nor 04 were checking in, but Relena supposed they had no one back there to talk to. That had been... almost a PR move, it was so impressive, and it made her wonder paranoidly if the man was in with L3.

But why would L3 attack themselves?

"Oh, look at this. The satellites are still a mess, but...." They had signal.

The screens flickered into life as Dorothy routed the information with a skill that showed she had done this before. There it was suddenly and gut wrenchingly real. This was no posturing powerplay, this was an outright attempt at slaughter. Relena knew instantly that no one put this many dolls and suits into battle without wanting to cause utter devastation. She was not naïve; it looked very much like if she tried to surrender this time on behalf of her kingdom it would be a short existence for all of them.

No one was holding back, and from every monitoring satellite, their small forces were piled up on from the sheer battering of attacks. She couldn't tell what was a doll and what was a manned mech, just the flashing loud colours of the Gundams stood out.

She could see Heero seemingly everywhere at once. He wouldn't get hurt, that wouldn't happen. This was Heero, the Gundams were unassailable.

Dorothy adjusted a feed and they had a visual on Heavyarms and Altron outside of L3 near what looked like an ordinary resource asteroid. It was a swarm of explosions and Heavyarms was concentrating its firepower on what looked like a hidden base.

"Keep them off me 05!" Trowa said with intensity. "Nearly got it!"

Altron swept in to protect the other Gundams back and Dorothy and Sally seemed riveted by the action.

"Come on Trowa…" Dorothy murmured.

They were each pulling for their pilots, their friends, or however they had each dealt with it. Sally seemed tense, and kept working on something. "Khushrenada's approved mobilizing the remaining Oz units."

"What?" Immediately Relena was alarmed. "Where? Are they..." Attacking she wanted to say.

Dorothy looked at her with a withering glance. "My cousin is nowhere near as untrustworthy as you seem to believe."

It was hard to believe. The man had said himself that he had no interest, but he had been the person to flip the whole card table in the first place, just a little over a year ago. It didn't make sense.

"Moving into net position," Sally reported. "Defensive tactics."

She felt a sense of relief. "Oh.." They were helping, defending. OZ was helping the Earth.

"L3 Comms satellite destroyed," Trowa reported still in that calm voice a moment before the entire area exploded whiting out the screen.  
For a brief moment the mobile dolls hesitated and juddered and then after a pause reorientated themselves and began attacking again.

"As suspected, that was a relay," Heero said.

"04 predicting main base is the missing Vulkanus," Wufei reported.

"It's not missing," Sally said, typing something rapidly, and keyed her comms on, "Does Khushrenada know where it is?"

"Epyon and 04 reporting that Mars bases are the likely area. 05 disengaging, and en route." Wufei answered.

"On his own?" Relena asked, startled by the action. Surely that wasn't going to work?

"Hmm," Sally said. "It looks like Quatre has sent Trowa to Earth...thank god, because a lot of dolls got through and I can see Duo and Noin heading after Wufei. Looks like he and the General are going to try and hold Space with Anne."

"They're spread too thin. We lost so many soldiers in that last battle..." Dorothy was frowning as she switched views, trying to see what there was to see at Mars. There was just one monitoring station out that far, mostly to record things for the historical record, Relena knew and it didn’t take too much of a leap to realise that was probably the reason Quatre believed it was out there. It caught an occasional mobile doll coming from a something in the asteroid belt, but she couldn’t see a base yet.

"They will hold the line," Sally sounded confident and Relena nodded in agreement. Heero had done the impossible before. He would hold the line and protect Sanc and Earth, she could believe in him.  
Their intense focus on the screens was suddenly interrupted by a nearby explosion and apparent gun battle close by.

Inside the building. Inside the building and possibly out in the hallway, and it unsettled her, because she felt the floor shake. 

"Dammit." Dorothy swore, and brought up the internal security feed.

"They're closing in on our position," Sally said urgently.

"Mmm, looks like they blew open one of the decoys," Dorothy frowned. "Heero was right to make several. The problem is...if they found that, they must know where all of them are. We can't stay here."

Relena considered, trying to think logically though her adrenaline was spiking and her heart pounding. "Then there is nowhere to hide, so perhaps we do go to baiting them into a trap."

"A trap actually requires us to have a plan," Dorothy pointed out archly. "If the trap is that they capture us all..."

"They don't seem too picky about capture if they are blowing up safe rooms," Sally mentioned as she looked at the schematics of the building. "We need a place where we can get the drop on them, or to hunt down Dekim."

"Can't be too many places that match that," Relena said as she tried to remember some of the discussions she had had with Heero about security. "The roof...it has a bottleneck of one stairwell entrance and the two observation towers next to the helipad." 

"Up to the roof, then. I wasn't here the last time this place was defended, but I've looked at the schematics..." Sally gestured them all closer to the door, waiting until they were near before opening it.

Dorothy pulled out a handgun and quirked a smile that just reminded Relena of Treize and Sally sighed and pulled one out as well. "Sorry," she said to Relena. "Needs must."  
Then they opened the door and started to make a run for it.

She felt like she was chasing after them, because if they didn't know where they were going, they still moved with speed and self-assurance. She couldn't see anyone else as they raced down corridors to the stairwell, but she could hear gunfire.

Inside of her own palace.

"Next left," she called out, the adrenalin making her having palpitations.

"I am definitely picking up a bigger gun when we get one of them down," Dorothy muttered under her breath.

The sound of gunfire was abruptly deafening and Sally yanked her down to cover. "Dorothy take them out."

Despite everything, it still stunned Relena when Dorothy popped up, firing wildly and accurately. The noise was so loud, so harsh, and she didn't know what to do with it. She needed to help, but.

How could she, the proponent of Total Pacifism, take up a gun? She had already proved she didn't have the will to use a gun, faced even with her father’s murderer. She would just have to rely on the others and use her wits where possible.

"Relena," Heero's voice spoke over the private channel. "Security status. Are you secure?"

"No. Headed to the roof, we're being pursued." Sally pulled on her arm, and they were off again, while Dorothy picked a gun off of someone's body.

There was a silence. "Relena, go to security zone 3." It was practically an order.

"Move Relena!" Dorothy called out. "More approaching. They've fixed on our position."

"Security teams, we're heading to the roof, L3 guards in pursuit" Relena said on the comms hoping they would get back up.

She wanted to explain that security zone three was completely compromised, exploded, so there was nowhere to go to, but they could run for it, and Sally got the door open to the roof ahead of them. "Go, go!" 

"Heero we can't..." She was interrupted by gunfire ricocheting close enough that she yelped and started running.

"There she is!" She heard the yell behind her and they put on extra speed.

"Dead or alive!" That sounded like a commander reiterating something, and going up a stairwell was not the time to try to sprint. They broke out to the roof, and Dorothy and Sally took firing positions.

She looked around trying to find somewhere to hide. "Back up, we need back up!" she called out over the comms. "We are pinned down."

"How many damn men did he bring?" Sally muttered. They were pinning them down by the door but they had limited ammunition.

Dorothy ran out of bullets, and then threw it in through the doorway in a rage at an incoming soldier. "Surrender, Dorothy Catalonia. You get one chance to go quietly."

Dorothy? They were after Dorothy?!

"She is not surrendering," Sally said, gesturing for Dorothy to back up behind her.

"You have transgressed the terms of the agreement between the colonies and Earth!" Relena called out, trying to take up time, distract them.

"Not everyone in our colony agrees to those terms," the lead soldier shot back, gesturing with his gun at Dorothy. "Come along, Romefeller Heir."

Relena had no weapons, but all she could do was use her defencelessness as a shield. She walked over, hoping that if she wasn't the prime target they would hesitate to shoot. "Stop, I command you as Queen as Sanc. Lay down your arms!"

"There're dukes who have more land and people under them than you do." Dorothy was standing tall and proud and unflinching, though she put a hand on Relena's shoulder as she tugged at her.

"We can do this without additional bloodshed," Dorothy offered. "Major Po, let's go. You're taking us to Dekim, I assume."

Relena tried to conceal that she opened the private channel to Heero. "Dorothy, we can't! He doesn't want you for any good reason."

"He wants power," Dorothy said calmly. "He expects my dear cousin to die in battle, and to finish me off here and then he has so much less competition, hmn? Let's get this over."

Why was she giving in so easily? Relena looked at Dorothy who looked composed and if anything a slight hint of a smile that reminded her of Treize's mannerisms.  
They were escorted, avoiding the worst of the running battles and she found her anger growing again as they were taken to one of the vestibules of the guest halls and to Dekim Barton.

In her own palace. This feeling of violation, that this was going on while her people were being bombarded was too much.

"Monsieur Barton, you know, the official records have you dead. I did not know that, so apologies for not congratulating you on your return from the dead. Perhaps only grandfather would have been offended, as you had been friends once." Words wielded appropriately were a weapon and a distraction, and Dorothy had always been so good at it.

"Rumours of my death and so on," Dekim said sweeping his gaze over them. "An interesting catch. Queen Peacecraft, Doctor Sally Po and the inestimable Ms Catalonia."

"At your service." Dorothy threw him a smile, and gave a flick of her hair - a habit Relena was beginning to realise she did to make her appear younger and more girlish than she was. "You couldn't crash a colony into the earth, so this is your next plan?"

"If I have the last remaining mobile doll facility, then why would I waste the resources of something I am soon to dominate?" Dekim said calmly. "Now, I would have had you shot on sight but it would appear one of you knows where my Granddaughter is being kept. Not apparently with the others."

The real target, then, and they were perhaps a feint. "She was entrusted to people concerned with her safety," Dorothy said carefully. "Are you upset that she failed in her mission?"

"It was an unfortunate failure. I'm sure she can be improved," Dekim said looking at the progress of the battle. "Or if Khushrenada has irredeemably broken her, I will have to dispose of her of course. A sad necessity but I cannot afford for her to be a distraction to my rule. Now, which of you ladies is going to reveal where she is? I do not have the patience for extended diplomacy."

A gesture had each of them seized roughly.

"I believe the answer is 'none of us'." Sally said that jauntily, not seeming to care that they were being held tight by guards.

"Oh I'm sure we can be persuasive," Dekim said and walked over towards Relena. "I think Queen Relena and her empty-headed pseudo-philosophy is a weak link. That's right isn't it Relena, you have always been the weak link."

That stung a little, to be so despised. "None of us will cooperate with you. Your cruelty and greed and vast ego is all that is wrong that leads to war!"

The man was smiling, all sharp teeth, proud of himself. "You don't even understand your enemy. That's why you don't deserve to rule. Where is my granddaughter?"

"None of us will be cooperating," Sally cut in again. "You were a monster to your own flesh and blood, your own daughter would have spat on you for treating her daughter this way!"

Relena wanted to tell Sally to stop being confrontational but realised she was doing it deliberately to try and draw the ire of the man away from those she considered civilians.

She forgot, even with the uniform, that Sally was a military officer. The man smiled, and gestured that they be separated and seated. "We will eventually find her, and then we will deal with you. I have control here."

"The pilots will defeat your forces!" Relena said forcefully. "This will come to nothing."

But what if they didn't?  
That was always the risk, though she believed Heero would come through. They could lose. They were just human, five young men and a few supporters, and Oz's forces, that would turn the tides… but they were against an army of machines, set on complete destruction of any opposition.

"Oh, I do enjoy your hopefulness." He gestured vaguely at his men, and turned around to bring up the same types of video screens as Dorothy had up before. Except the views were clearly different.

The sheer amount of mobile dolls everywhere, on their way to Earth was overwhelming; a locust storm trying to be stopped by individuals who could tackle many but never enough.  
She could see Epyon and 04 making impossible moves. The stand-off at L1, as Anne took the fight aggressively to the enemy, the stand-off at Mars and…

Where were Wing and Heero?

She didn't dare gasp or draw attention to that omission.

"You know you will not survive this Dekim. " Dorothy informed him. "I do not know why you decided I was a target however."

"You're soon going to be the last worthy member of a long, important bloodline. People treasure their royalty. Who you are matters -- your cousin could have done it all, ruled it all, and that was why he had to die. With you gone, the last Catalonia, no one will be able to reach for the old dynastic rulers."

Relena paused. What was this? Who had to die? Dorothy's cousin? Wasn't that Treize...no wait he was very evidently not dead and was a step-cousin. Her eyes widened as she realised that Dekim had essentially confessed to having Vingt Khushrenada assassinated.

"They reach for us because we have learned how not to be despotic rulers," Dorothy said forcefully. "I will never -"

They were interrupted by explosions near enough to get them all ducking instinctively.

...and when she straightened up, and took a look at the layout of the room after the explosion had rocked that side of the building, Sally was nowhere to be seen, and three soldiers were running out the door after her. 

"Just shoot her!"

She wanted to help and she saw a moment as everything seemed to happen at once. Heero burst into the room, Dekim cursing raised a gun to shoot and him and she lunged to hit his hand off course.

Gunfire broke out as the OZ security engaged in a battle and Heero was somehow everywhere, each motion lethal.

Then she heard the howl, and gunfire; they seemed to overlap, but Dorothy was stepping back from Dekim with rage in her eyes and a gore covered knife in her hand, while the man collapsed, half twisted around as if he had been stunned to be stabbed.

"I always carry a blade," Dorothy muttered and Relena stepped away shocked at the bloom of blood on Dekim's chest as well only to be tugged rapidly behind cover by Heero.  
"Relena! Get out of the line of fire."

She went, baffled by it all. She had learned how to debate, how to write, how to theorize and negotiate a treaty, but she did not know how to fight like that, and she didn't want to. Someone else shot him, and it didn't matter anymore because everything was falling into chaos.

Her earpiece crackled. "03 to 01, we need Wing in the air Heero!" Trowa sounded unusually forceful. "Too many are converging on Earth and the others are playing catch up. "

"01 here, securing the Palace. Dekim Barton eliminated as part of the operation," Heero said, sounding like he was sitting just having a chat and she could see him ripping through Dekim's forces right in front of her, his rage palpable in every deadly movement.

"Mobile dolls are breaking through the OZ net. Repeat, we need Wing in the air!" There was urgency, and it didn't sound lightly said. “Contact with civilians imminent!”

And then they felt the first impact, different somehow than explosions had been.

"On my way," he said, literally turning to grab her hand and pull her. "You are going to the security zone now and you will stay in there." It was a statement as much as an order.

"I will find my way there," she said, completely willing to agree with that.

"Hmm." Heero made it clear what he thought of that statement as she was dragged away at a near run.

She didn't get a chance to tell him that she thought it was damaged, and they ended up running closer to a site that was clearly full of their own emergency response people. "Heero, I will be fine."

"You were not fine. You were a hostage," he said practically through gritted teeth. "I cannot fight knowing you are in such danger, and I need to fight if the mission is to be completed."

"Go fight. I'll be right here with me people." She almost said Dorothy and Sally except she didn't know where they were, and --

"Heero! It sounds as if it's increasingly worse up there. I have Relena"

Sally, thank goodness for her. Heero looked a little torn and was about to drag her somewhere.

"Heero, get your ass up here now!" Trowa sounded sharp over comms. "We've got incoming all over Sanc. All the incoming and Heavy arms is overheating. Saving Relena will be a very temporary thing if the place is pulverised. Quatre is predicting suicide mobile dolls. This isn't over!"

Heero looked at her a moment, his deep blue eyes burning with intense focus and he nodded curtly.

"Be safe this time Relena," he ordered as if she had deliberately tried to be in danger.

"I will be, Heero." She reached a hand out to squeeze his shoulder. "Please, hurry. We need you up there."

He nodded and then ran from the atrium leaving her somewhat shellshocked along with Sally and Dorothy who looked composed and together as she wiped the blood from her knife.

Dorothy looked a little wild around the eyes if she looked carefully, half thrilled and half shocked maybe, Relena wasn't sure, but she was concealing it well. "Vingt was the best of us. I should have saved that honour for Treize, but I don't think he could have done it. Well. Let's get out of the way."

She nodded because despite all her status as the figurehead of Total Pacifism she couldn't help but feel that Dekim Barton had deserved the violent end that had come to him.

She could struggle later with what it meant to her.


End file.
